Fox Den Salon
Land Acknowledgement
FIND OUT WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON
To know where we are going as a community, we must know where we are from. Here in Minneapolis, we have been given the opportunity to look honestly and frankly at where we are and the systems that have made our current environment possible, both in its successes and failures.
For those that may be unaware, Minneapolis and St. Paul, or “the Twin Cities”, are tucked in the middle of America at the convergence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers (a sacred place called Bdóte, now called “Mendota”, by the Dakota). Our state may be home to 18 Fortune 500 companies (putting us just outside of the top 10 in America), but it is also one of the Top 5 worst places to live in the US for Black Americans (based on racial disparities in income, education, health, incarceration, and white-black achievement gaps in other socioeconomic outcomes using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Bureau of Justice Statistics).
In the hair industry, we know this disparity and spirit of segregation all too well. Not only do the systems within our industry have a myriad of barriers to higher education and the licensing and certification of professionals, but even our consumers are left with the limited choices and homogenized experiences that these limits have created.
From the history of our industry to the history of our land, we all have a part to play in increasing awareness on how we got here. Improving Equity is not about increasing variety, access, or even sameness, it is about improving fairness. Improving fairness may not have a silver bullet, but learning and honoring the many contributions of our community is an important step towards it.
Our city of Minneapolis in the state of Minnesota, “Mni Sota Makoce” or where the water reflects the sky as named by the Dakota (Dakhóta), has a deep and important Native history that is both overlooked and integrated in so many elements of our daily life. While Minneapolis is known for many things, acknowledging and respecting the history of our land needs to be maintained in our daily practices.
It is with great respect and humility that we acknowledge that we gather and create on the traditional land of the Dakota people and the many other tribes that have stewarded it for generations. This beautiful and often complicated city has been the ancestral home to the Dakota people, as well as a home to the Ojibwe (Anishinaabeg), Ho-Chunk, Cheyenne, Oto, Iowa, and Sauk and Meskwaki people over generations. The continual strategic disenfranchisement of the colonial settlers on the native peoples of this land have diminished but not deterred the capacity for acknowledgement of the many gifts, strengths, voices, and achievements of the indigenous people that have come before and those that remain in our communities.
We know that an act as small as a land acknowledgment may seem trivial, particularly at a time when there are so many elements of injustice facing our world. Acknowledgements do not undo the past, but they help to inform our futures. Land acknowledgements are one step towards increasing awareness and respect within our community and one that we as a company have overlooked for far too long as a major piece of work within our industry. It is our hope that moving forward more small businesses, organizations, and individuals can and will participate in the acknowledgement of the many nations that have contributed to the structures that we participate in daily. To acknowledge our past and assist others in considering the land on which we stand, the many diverse legacies that have contributed to the moments in time that we cohabitate collectively is an asset to us all.
Through active critical reflection, community participation, and active listening, we are capable of honoring and respecting our history while working to advance greater equity in our spaces and in our world.
If you’d like to learn more about the Land you currently occupy, here are some great resources that we’ve found helpful,
as well as guides on creating your own land acknowledgement for your self, organization, or company:
Local to the Twin Cities:
The Decolonial Atlas: Minneapolis and St. Paul in Dakota and Ojibwe
Minneapolis American Indian Center
The Land We’re On by the NGC
Land maps and resources:
Territories and Treaties & Agreements map
Acknowledging Native Land:
Activism Skills: Land and Territory Acknowledgement by Amnesty International
Land acknowledgments 101wp by Outside Business Journal
Additional resources:
Native Governance Center Resources on a variety of topics
Ok, so now we’ve got the tools, let’s see what we do with them, together!
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FOX DEN SALON: LAKE STREET | 1221 W Lake, Minneapolis, MN 55408
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:
It is with great respect and humility that we acknowledge that we gather and create on the traditional land of the Dakota people and the many other tribes that have stewarded it for generations. This beautiful and often complicated city has been the ancestral home to the Dakota people, as well as a home to the Ojibwe (Anishinaabeg), Ho-Chunk, Cheyenne, Oto, Iowa, Sauk and Meskwaki people over generations. The continual strategic disenfranchisement of the colonial settlers on the native peoples of this land have diminished but not deterred the capacity for acknowledgement of the many gifts, strengths, voices, and achievements of the indigenous people that have come before, as well as those that remain in our communities.
©2023 by Dangerously Pretty LLC dba Fox Den Salon. Fox Den Salon and any same or similar names or likenesses are Trademarked.
The words and viewpoints of the staff of the salon do not necessarily represent the totality of the salon staff or the company as a whole.
If you have any concerns, please direct them to info@foxdensalon.com
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